Product Development Model Research Articles

New methods for virtual design with a focus on composite materials and structural optimisation

The increasing use of modern composite materials in product development nowadays requires the development of virtual product development methods for these materials. As product development starts with the design of these materials, material production has to be integrated into virtual product development. First a simulation method for the manufacturing process of carbon fibre-reinforced carbon and a hierarchical homogenisation method are presented. Specialised simulation methods of fracture mechanics and material fatigue for composite materials as well as a method for material failure detection based on test data are introduced. Furthermore, an optimisation process for mechanical parts' dynamic behaviour is explained. The demand for these methods is demonstrated on a humanoid robot whose parts are to be made of composite materials. The basis for integration of these methods into product development processes is the new Integrated Product Development Model (IPEM). Its open structure, based on its activities, makes it particularly suitable for the integration of the new method.

Developing a universal numerical control machine based on an enterprise multilevel framework and its IPPMD reference map and methodology

Nowadays more manufacturing enterprises are requiring the adoption of a structured process to improve their practices in a product development project. Using an enterprise multilevel framework, this paper introduces an integrated product, process and manufacturing system development ( IPPMD) reference map and methodology to create a particular product development model and setting-up based on it a successful concurrent product development process that is independent of the enterprise industrial sector and focuses on specific issues such as: market opportunities, technological constraints, stakeholders’ interrelations and declared goals related to the enterprise strategies. Furthermore, a study case is presented following the IPPMD methodology, which is supported by a reference map as part of the enterprise multilevel framework, and starts with a project scope definition and moves forward to the establishment of a particular product development model for a specific project, in this case: the development of a universal numerical control (UNC) machine.

Structured Methods of New Product Development and Creativity Management: A Teaching Experience

Using structured methods for managing business innovation can be an effective way to improve the ideation process. Teaching structured methods is a potent way to enhance the innovative capabilities of companies and to develop creative products for the marketplace. In this paper, structured models of innovation and product development are reviewed and an approach to them is presented, based on several MSc student projects. The implications for managers, such as the need to train employees in structured methods, and the implications for those who teach innovation management are discussed in detail.

An Enhanced Product Representation Model and Multi-Level Case Base for Rapid Product Development

An enhanced product representation model was introduced, and it was specified with the sets of property, the sets of the multiplicity of modules, and the sets of relationships among them. A multi-case base corresponding complex product decomposition was established. Cases were defined and edited on customization template, which improved efficiency of developing multi-case base. For an example, a design tool for diesel engine development based on multi-case base was developed, and diesel engine product development could be more rapidly.

Understanding antecedents of new product development speed: A meta-analysis

New product development (NPD) speed is a key component of time-based strategy, which has become increasingly important for managing innovation in a fast-changing business environment. This meta-analytic review assesses the generalizability of the relationships between NPD speed and 17 of its antecedents to provide a better understanding of the salient and cross-situationally consistent factors that affect NPD speed. We grouped the antecedents into four categories of strategy, project, process, and team, and found that process and team characteristics are more generalizable and cross-situationally consistent determinants of NPD speed than strategy and project characteristics. We also conducted subgroup analyses and found that research method variables, such as level of analysis, source of data, and measurement of speed, moderate the relationships between NPD speed and its antecedents. We apply the study's findings to assess several models of NPD speed, such as the balanced model of product development, the strategic orientation and organizational capability model, the compression vs. the experiential model, the centrifugal and centripetal model, and the product development cycle time model. We also discuss the implications of our findings for research and practice.

Integrating RAMS engineering and management with the safety life cycle of IEC 61508

This article outlines a new approach to reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety (RAMS) engineering and management. The new approach covers all phases of the new product development process and is aimed at producers of complex products like safety instrumented systems (SIS). The article discusses main RAMS requirements to a SIS and presents these requirements in a holistic perspective. The approach is based on a new life cycle model for product development and integrates this model into the safety life cycle of IEC 61508. A high integrity pressure protection system (HIPPS) for an offshore oil and gas application is used to illustrate the approach.

Optimal Product Design Under Price Competition

Engineering optimization methods for new product development model consumer demand as a function of product attributes and price in order to identify designs that maximize expected profit. However, prior approaches have ignored the ability of competitors to react to a new product entrant. We pose an approach to new product design accounting for competitor pricing reactions by imposing Nash and Stackelberg conditions as constraints, and we test the method on three product design case studies from the marketing and engineering design literature. We find that new product design under Stackelberg and Nash equilibrium cases are superior to ignoring competitor reactions. In our case studies, ignoring price competition results in suboptimal design and overestimation of profits by 12–79%, and we find that a product that would perform well in today’s market may perform poorly in the market that the new product will create. The efficiency, convergence stability, and ease of implementation of the proposed approach enable practical implementation for new product design problems in competitive market systems.

Innovation in the Product Development Process

The objective of this study is to show a methodical product development process that is infused with innovative elements in strategic locations, which facilitates product quality, technical breakthroughs, speed to market, and how this method can create a system of development involving all stakeholder groups. This process fosters an understanding of advantageous times for ideation activities and reiteration activities to occur. Due to a lack of industry knowledge and practice regarding design, the sub-categorization of steps in this process will lead to understanding of the tasks, costs and timeframes involved in the design phases. The intention of this process definition is also to build an understanding of which functional groups should be involved in research, ideation and design, and develop an understanding of how these groups should collaborate, and which should be responsible for certain product decisions. Although many similarities exist among current development methods, common misconceptions and process deficiencies are prevalent. Innovative aspects of the process are commonly misunderstood, and are often completely lacking or applied at an inefficient juncture of the process. Other times evaluation and research phases are left incomplete, leaping directly to the mechanical development process phase. This causes earlier steps to be done after engineering work is underway, which creates inefficiencies in the process. There is also evidence of a large gap of misunderstanding about what the nature of the design phase really is, which causes it to be left out of the process altogether or ill-applied during the process. We conducted an examination of current studies and process information from medical device companies and evaluated them for the exclusion or placement of key innovative elements. Common similarities were discovered, and a modified development process description was created with the inclusion of elements useful for optimizing innovation and reducing redundancy. Some of the detrimental commonalities include a lack of detail in the research and ideation phases of the process, the tendency for companies to skip around in the process and impeding the ability to hit critical dates, and involving groups and disciplines in the process at incorrect times which stifles innovation and causes bottlenecks. The revised process involves designers in evaluation, research, marketing, engineering, validation and production, finding that it pulls all groups together, linking them to a single process. We found that this model of product development can provide results that will improve performance and acceptance of new medical devices, while increasing innovation and help to uncover breakthrough concepts. Key factors in this process include the practice of planning innovation into the process in the proper places; having a design team involved in all phases to increase product quality; and expending sufficient effort in the highly misunderstood areas of the process. It is also shown that success is achieved if product decisions are made around design criteria derived from the process, with a design team involved in making these decisions. Continued iterations must occur during the appropriate phases, and when the process is followed, bottlenecks are removed, streamlining takes place, innovation can occur, and customer needs are more fully met in the product, increasing overall product quality and launch success.

A new mixed integer linear programming model for product development using quality function deployment

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a product development process performed to maximize customer satisfaction. In the QFD, the design requirements (DRs) affecting the product performance are primarily identified, and product performance is improved to optimize customer needs (CNs). For product development, determining the fulfillment levels of design requirements (DRs) is crucial during QFD optimization. However, in real world applications, the values of DRs are often discrete instead of continuous. To the best of our knowledge, there is no mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model in which the discrete DRs values are considered. Therefore, in this paper, a new QFD optimization approach combining MILP model and Kano model is suggested to acquire the optimized solution from a limited number of alternative DRs, the values of which can be discrete. The proposed model can be used not only to optimize the product development but also in other applications of QFD such as quality management, planning, design, engineering and decision-making, on the condition that DR values are discrete. Additionally, the problem of lack of solutions in integer and linear programming in the QFD optimization is overcome. Finally, the model is illustrated through an example.

A methodology of generating customer satisfaction models for new product development using a neuro-fuzzy approach

When developing new products it is important for design teams to understand customer perceptions of consumer products because the success of such products is heavily dependent upon the associated customer satisfaction level. The chance of a new product’s success in a marketplace is higher if users are satisfied with it. In this study, a new methodology of generating customer satisfaction models using a neuro-fuzzy approach is proposed. In contrast to previous research, non-linear and explicit customer satisfaction models can be developed with the use of the proposed methodology. An example of notebook computer design is used to illustrate the methodology. The proposed methodology was measured against the benchmark of statistical regression to determine its effectiveness. Experimental results suggested that the proposed approach outperformed the statistical regression method in terms of mean absolute errors and variance of errors.

Integrated knowledge-based model of innovative product and process development

An integrated knowledge-based model of innovative product and process development is dealt with at a business engineering stage of the order-handling manufacturing system. Mechanical products as solid design, also new kinds of products with plastics and sheet metal design have been considered. The developed model helps to systematize and acquire knowledge and experience for definition of customer requirements, configuration of innovative products, process alternatives and preliminary costs. It furnishes a possibility for the manufacturer to find and to estimate the product and process structure and the cost at an early stage of new business engineering. This integrated knowledge-based model has been tested and adopted in two Lithuanian manufacturing companies. The proposed model is being implemented both in industry and university education process.

Improving product development in different types of ICT companies

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is facing continuous changes in its New Product Development (NPD) as products become increasingly complicated and customer segments more fragmented. Price erosion is also an escalating challenge for the management in the ICT sector. The automotive sector was chosen as a benchmark as it has been a large-volume and competitive business sector for decades, and has streamlined its processes to meet severe price targets. This study utilises Toyota's product development model as a learning platform and presents improvement ideas for three different types of ICT companies: large, small and suppliers.

Core rigidities in the innovation process: a structured benchmark on knowledge management challenges

A changing industrial and technological environment implies a need for a diligent acquisition of dynamic capabilities. While tackling exogenous discontinuities is imperative for success, the problem often lies in the firms' internal processes, where existing core competences might deteriorate to core rigidities. The presented contribution is two-fold: first, a conceptual framework for assessing knowledge-related rigidities along the innovation process is introduced, which is derived from the stage-gate model for new product development. The innovation process is evaluated within cases of four industry firms, with emphasis on identifying problem areas, core rigidities and resulting challenges along the entire way from idea to market launch. Secondly, the challenges are clustered, providing a basis for deriving optimisation approaches, as well as summarised and compared across the cases. In all phases of the innovation process, the benchmark with other firms seems to ease the process of creating awareness on rigidities and to provide a basis for managerial improvement.

Quality function development: a new paradigm for involving customers in product development process

The success of new products is determined particularly by the extent to which the producer succeeds in developing products that meet consumer demands. This implies that product development has to be fast in order to incorporate the latest trends in the product. Over the last few years an impressive body of research has accumulated on the topic of product development and the purpose of this article is to synthesise and to assess our understanding of involving users in the development process. In this paper, an attempt is made not only to analyse existing models of product development but also introduces an integrated concept and methodology to address these issues. The paper is composed of product development background, related literature review and list of steps for model development. The concepts presented in this paper are not yet widely practiced. Nevertheless, this work integrates several theories and practices into a useful framework.

Systems thinking benefits in supply change management: an illustration of the viable systems model in a Supply Chain

Existing product development models are solely an organisational matter. They do not take into consideration the whole Supply Chain (SC) and its different actors. In this article, we investigate how Supply Chain Management and Viable System Model (VSM) can support and create an effective use of information in product development and hence identify critical linkages in the SC. The aim is to introduce VSM as a framework that enables an analysis of companies' SCs and visualise vital inter-organisational relationships that should be integrated in product development.

Integration of quality function deployment and process management in the semiconductor industry

This study integrates quality function deployment (QFD) with process-management techniques to optimize product design investment, process improvement, and phase-in to meet customers’ requirements and company goals. QFD uses systematized multi-levelled development and evaluation to translate customer requirements into product and process design in a manner that satisfies customers and prevents potential failure costs. Process management, which is one of the pivotal Six Sigma implementation criteria, is used in the present study to construct an integrated product and process development (IPPD) model to promote the effectiveness and benefits of applying QFD techniques. This study provides insights into the integrated model's applicability and suitability in the semiconductor industry.

Model for product development of vaccines against neglected tropical diseases: a vaccine against human hookworm

This article provides an overview of the advances in product development and technology transfer of the vaccine against human hookworm, with particular emphasis on the lessons learned and the challenges of developing a vaccine in the nonprofit sector. The comprehensive approach to vaccine development established by the Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative (HHVI) identifies key operational and technical aspects that are essential for a successful partnership with a developing country vaccine manufacturer. This article also highlights the importance of a global access roadmap to guide the vaccine development program. The advancement of new products for the control of neglected tropical diseases portends great challenges for global access, including aspects related to vaccine design, product development and manufacture, vaccine introduction and distribution, financing, knowledge dissemination and intellectual property management. With only three vaccines for neglected tropical diseases in clinical trials – hookworm, leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis – we are at the nascent stages of developing vaccines for neglected populations. Product development public–private partnerships, such as the HHVI, continue to show great promise on this front and will eventually provide significant control tools for achieving millennium development goals related to poverty reduction, as well as child and maternal health.

Innovation in Japan: What Role for University Spin-offs?

Japanese public authorities are concerned that Japanese industry is losing its competitive advantage in high technology industries. Moreover, there is a strong concern about the hollowing out of the local industrial basis during a period where the population is ageing and there is a need for the development of new fiscal resources locally. Public authorities still count on large companies to be the main source of innovation. However, the economic model of innovation and product development has reached its limit. For the first time since the 1950s there is a strong belief that innovative start-ups in manufacturing industries and/or having R&D activities that can lead to possession of high value patents need to play an important role in the industrial structure. The perception exists that Japan lost its competitiveness with the USA (and is likely to have similar problems also with China and India in the coming years) precisely because it had fallen behind in terms of creating the type of R&D-oriented companies that would create knowledge-intensive employment, develop global branding strategies and manage efficiently tangible and intangible assets. In this context, national and regional universities are expected to play an active role as providers of knowledge and technologies in collaboration with public administration and business. This could be achieved as usual through traditional means such as technology transfers together with commissioned and common research for and with private companies. However, since the beginning of the 2000s, university spin-offs (USOs) are beginning to play an increasingly significant role in the revival of Japanese economy in terms of attracting venture capital and promoting innovation. This article will describe and analyze the situation of the university spin-offs in Japan: the importance and origin of the phenomenon, and the characteristics and performance of those spin-offs. It will identify the obstacles they encounter and the opportunities they have in the current Japanese business environment, and assess the impact of the public policy supporting them. Finally, it will propose a possible scenario of their evolution in view of the domestic and international changes in the business environment.

A New Framework and a Model for Product Development with an Application in the Telecommunications Services Sector

A New Framework and a Model for Product Development with an Application in the Telecommunications Services Sector

Dynamic simulation of product process

During 90’s Nokia utilized Concurrent Engineering (CE) process in mobile phone business successfully. Strong growing of the company, more complex technologies, maturing markets and changes in competition has increased the need to develop the product process of the company to keep its position as an agile, innovative and productive product developer. Dynamic simulation approach has been one of the activities among other product process re-engineering efforts in the company. This paper describes the approach and “Product Process Decision Simulation” (PPDS) solution as the first implemented application of the approach. A dynamic model of product development has been created and applied to manage product process complex dynamic behavior on system level in order to reduce product development cycle times, slippages and costs as well as improve perceived product quality. The key contribution of the simulation solution is to provoke facilitated discussion in order to gain shared understanding of interdependencies and dynamic causes and effects in product process. The implementation and frequent simulation workshops have started in June 2006 and about 500 R&D people have already participated.